Orhan Coskun News

Late last month, a Russian-flagged cargo ship carrying corn pulled into the Turkish port of Izmir on the Aegean Sea. The SV Nikolay had loaded the grain at Port Kavkaz, in Russia, six days earlier on June 18, according to documentation provided by an employee of the Russian company that owns the ship.A Reuters analysis of satellite imagery, ship-tracking data and open-source photos and videos yields a different port of origin for the SV Nikolay. On June 18, Reuters’ analysis of a satellite image indicates…

Turkey’s pledge to block some Russian warships from passing through its waters to the Black Sea during the Ukraine crisis could help repair its ties with NATO, even as it risks reprisals from Moscow.But a buildup of Russian ships waiting to make the journey will test Ankara’s resolve over the next few days and show how far it is willing to go in tilting its uniquely delicate diplomatic balance between east and west.Turkey changed its rhetoric to call Moscow’s assault on Ukraine…

Eastern-based Libyan forces have intercepted a Turkish ship under a Jamaican flag heading to the port of Misrata in western Libya, their spokesman said on Monday, a possible new flashpoint in the conflict after weeks of truce.Turkey is the main foreign backer of the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), in the west, which has for years been fighting the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA).LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari added that the commercial cargo ship, Mabrouka, had 17 crew, including nine Turkish nationals, and containers that had not yet been inspected.

Cyprus on Sunday accused the Turkish military of obstructing a ship contracted by Italian oil company Eni from approaching an area to explore for natural gas, highlighting tensions over offshore resources in the east Mediterranean. A spokesman for Eni said on Sunday the Saipem 12000 drill ship had been heading from a location southwest of Cyprus towards an area southeast of the island on Friday when it was stopped by Turkish military ships and told not to continue because of military activities in the destination area. Turkey, which does not have diplomatic relations with Cyprus, claims that certain areas in Cyprus's offshore maritime zone, known as an EEZ, fall into the jurisdiction of Turkey or that of Turkish Cypriots.

Turkey's Karadeniz will in the next two weeks begin supplying Zambia with electricity from a power-generating ship as it looks to take advantage of chronic shortages in Africa, the company said on Wednesday. Karadeniz builds what are effectively floating power stations which plug into electricity grids after berthing. They run on fuel oil but can also use natural gas. One of the firm's vessels docked this week at Mozambique's Nacala port, from where it will supply 100 megawatts of electricity for the next two years, power that will then be exported through the grid to neighbouring Zambia. This is the second power ship Karadeniz has deployed to Africa after a 225 MW unit arrived in Ghana last year.

Iraqi Kurdistan has shipped 8.8 million barrels of oil from the Turkish port of Ceyhan since May, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said, as the autonomous region employs new tactics to establish independent oil sales in defiance of Baghdad. Sources and energy officials had told Reuters on Thursday that the sales from Ceyhan via the autonomous regions new pipeline were more than 8 million barrels in 11 tankers. A U.S. court on Monday threw out an order to seize some 1 million barrels of disputed Iraqi Kurdish crude oil from a tanker near Texas, a move that could allow the cargo to be delivered and end a nearly month-long impasse. "The U.S.

The fifth cargo of crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan was being loaded at Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan on Thursday and the tanker was scheduled to depart on Friday, Turkish energy officials said. The Suezmax tanker Kalamari arrived at the port late on Wednesday, according to a shipping source, and will be carrying one million barrels of crude oil, officials said. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun, Humeyra Pamuk and Julia Payne in London; Editing by Daren Butler)

Iraqi Kurdistan's attempts to export oil independently of Baghdad hit another obstacle on Wednesday, as a Turkish energy official and industry sources said the autonomous region's pipeline to the Mediterranean has been shut for the past week. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has not launched any oil tankers from the Turkish port of Ceyhan in over a month as Baghdad has moved to block the vessels from unloading at foreign ports. The latest set-back comes as Iraqi Kurdistan's increasingly bitter legal and diplomatic struggle with Baghdad over oil sales threatens to spill over into the United States. Arguing all oil sales outside its control are illegal…

A tanker delivered a cargo of disputed crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan's new pipeline for the first time on Friday in Israel, despite threats by Baghdad to take legal action against any buyer. The SCF Altai tanker arrived at Israel's Ashkelon port early on Friday morning, ship tracking and industry sources said. By the evening, the tanker began unloading the Kurdish oil, a source at the port said. The Kurdistan Regional Government said on Saturday, a day after the news was first reported, it did not deal with Israel in the sale. "The KRG categorically refutes the claim that it has sold oil to Israel," a spokesman for the Ministry of Natural Resources said in an email.

A third tanker carrying piped crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan is being loaded at Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, a source at the Turkish energy ministry told Reuters On Friday. The source said the loading was expected to be completed by Saturday and that the tanker would be carrying 1 million barrels of Kurdish oil. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun; Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Nick Tattersall)

A second shipment of Iraqi Kurdish crude has sailed from the Turkish port of Ceyhan, industry and government sources said, increasing the stakes in a battle with Baghdad over control of oil sales from the autonomous region. The United Emblem suezmax tanker, carrying 1 million barrels of crude, sailed from the harbour on Turkey's Mediterranean coast on Monday, Reuters AIS Live ship tracking showed. The shipment is the second to leave Ceyhan in three weeks after arriving by pipeline. At least 2 million barrels of Kurdish crude are now at sea, despite protests from Baghdad that only the central government has the right to sell Iraqi oil.

Move likely to infuriate Iraqi government in Baghdad; first 1 million barrel cargo being loaded at Ceyhan, Turkey. Tanker scheduled to sail later on Thursday, buyer not identified. Iraqi Kurdistan started loading oil from its new pipeline for shipment from a Turkish port on Thursday, defying the Baghdad government, which claims sole authority over Iraqi crude and declares any independently sold oil as 'smuggled'. The cargo of 1 million barrels of crude oil was being loaded on a tanker in the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told Reuters on Thursday. "Loading will be completed today," Yildiz said, declining to name the buyer.